Machine slices stone into veneer
Dave Wilkins is not a stonemason. He has never wanted to be a stonemason and he has no plans to become one in the future.
But Wilkins is a man who loves rocks and stones. Loves them big-time.
Because of this passion, he bought Glacier Stone Supply, a Kalispell landscape and building-stone company.
"I've had the business for two years and the learning curve has been very steep," the former wireless-cellphone executive said. "But if I ever lose my enthusiasm for that learning, I'll be in trouble."
Last week, Glacier Stone went on line with one of only 50 specialized, rock-slicing machines in the nation.
The TXS Thin Stone System - with its 100-horsepower motor - can slice 3- to 6-inch-thick rock called "ledge" into 1 to 1 1/2-inch-thick rock called "thin veneer."
It requires 40 gallons of water per minute to chill the cutting blades, which are edged with manufactured diamonds twice the toughness of real ones. Rock dust - an offshoot of the process - is saved and later recycled as mortar additive or a grease remover.
The slicing process has in the past been done manually with saws. Wilkins' new quarter-million-dollar machine can do it 10 times faster.
Much better for business, Wilkins said, because the end product is more cost-effective. The machine-sliced thin veneer retails for approximately $12 per square foot.
Thin veneer is easier to install than ledge and takes one-third the time, so there is also a labor savings. It as well weighs less. To qualify as "thin," each square-foot piece must weigh less than 15 pounds because the wall to which it is adhered must be able to support its weight.
Up until the invention of thin veneer, it had been nearly impossible to create a rock wall above the first floor of a building. Today, while not yet an everyday occurrence, rock is definitely moving on up.
Swan River Inn in Bigfork is one of Wilkins' customers. Using Glacier Stone's Canyon Creek thin veneer, owner Margrit Matter built a rock waterfall on the second floor of her building in addition to a large fireplace in the bar area. She did the stone masonry work herself.
Before the advent of thin veneer, this upper level placement would have been unthinkable because of the weight of the rock.
When it comes to color selection, Montana has the largest offering of rocks of any area of the country, Wilkins said. "For us, well over 60 percent of our customers are spread throughout the U.S.
"We have over 15 Montana quarries we mine for our rock. We own some of them and we lease some. Each runs from five to 500 acres of areas with an abundance of stone. We try to select quarries with a long life, say, 30 years. Sometimes we blast. Sometimes we mine."
Jim Frost is general manager of Glacier Stone Supply and has been in the rock business for almost half a century. "We look for colors, shapes and densities," he said. "We try to pick solid stones with great character, stones that will make great building stones."
Historically, the less-expensive alternative to genuine rock facing has been fake stone - cement molded, then painted to look like different varieties of rock. The problem with fake rock is it chips, scratches, loses its color and cannot be acid-washed to burn off any leftover mortar, Wilkins said.
And, if you're a true-rock purist, faux materials are unacceptable. You cannot, for example, grow moss on fake stone. You can grow it on thin veneer, however, if you keep the surface wet.
A fourth-generation Montanan, Dave Wilkins was a business major in college, earned his living delivering furniture his first year out of college and then "got in on the ground floor of the wireless phone business" in California.
"But you always want to come back to Montana when you've been away," he said. "So, when I eventually got back here, the problem was how to make a living."
When Frost approached Wilkins two years ago about the purchase of some of the bankrupt assets of Interstate Rock Products, Wilkins decided to give it a go. The results have been encouraging.
"We do about $2 million a year in revenue currently," Wilkins said. "And with the new machine, we're hoping to double revenues." Glacier Stone Supply currently has more than 30 employees.
The demand for wall-building services is on the rise these days, Wilkins said, after a protracted period of disinterest on the part of the American public. He accounts for this new enthusiasm by noting that thin veneer has made the coveted rock-look less expensive, easier to install, lighter and still - most important of all for many aficionados - 100 percent genuine.
Reporter George Kingson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at gkingson@dailyinterlake.com